It makes no sense for anyone to profit from this, since it is an unknown. Now, ask yourself: are fans of Thomas Jefferson talking about Sally Hammings all the time? Are they saying Jefferson was a GOD! Why? Because he never fathered a child with this woman! Isn't that great?!

Wouldn't that be a silly claim? In no way can this alleged incident be used to boost Jefferson's reputation. As why should it? There's no proof, so fans of Jefferson have no reason to say much of anything on the topic.

BUT ... people who want to claim "everybody does it" have a real reason to smear him with an unsubstantiated "fact". Oh, sure, we don't know for sure, ... but, you know, everybody does it ... and one of the Jefferson men did it ... and, you know, it could have been Tom ... so, that's almost like proving that he was a hound-dog, right? So, I guess we can ignore all the verified sex scandals too ... because, you know ... even Thomas Jefferson did it.

In short: this is useful as a smear on a great American. The story can serve no other purpose. We don't have to declare Thomas Jefferson a saint, but we should say that this is an unfounded, unsubstantiated smear job. It has no use as anything else.

At the time this may have occurred, Sally Hemmings was Thomas Jeffersons Property. Anything he may or may not have done was neither illegal nor immoral in that context. That it may be illegal or immoral today is irrelevant. It did not happen today. Therefore there can be no smear.

So9

45 posted on 12/16/2003 12:17:05 PM PST by Servant of the 9
(Think of it as Evolution In Action)

Jefferson's fathership of the Hemmings child cannot be proven nor disproven. To both sides of the argument: stop being so dogmatic on the issue.

Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant man who did much for this country but he was no saint. If it is proven that he was the father of the Hemmings child, it wouldn't affect my opinion of him. In the words of Henry Hyde, we'll just call it a "youthful indescretion."